President Joe Biden on Thursday will read remarks regarding border security, as his administration has now flip-flopped, and is working to expand Title 42, the Trump-era policy which allows the US Government to expel immigrants while they wait for asylum hearings, as opposed to allowing them to walk free in the United States.

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As the Wall Street Journal notes, “The Biden administration is expanding its use of a pandemic-era border measure known as Title 42 to begin rapidly expelling migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, while opening a new legal path for up to 30,000 migrants from those countries to enter the U.S. a month.”

The new policy represents the broadest effort yet that the Biden administration has undertaken to deter migrants seeking asylum from crossing the border illegally. It also relies on an expanded use of Title 42 as a border-control measure, even while the administration is arguing in court that the measure is no longer justified on public-health grounds and must end. The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Title 42 in February.

The new program will require migrants hoping to seek asylum in the U.S. to be paired with financial sponsors and would give applicants two years of humanitarian protections, under which they can work legally and apply for asylum. -WSJ

Meanwhile, Biden indicated on Wednesday that he will visit the US-Mexico border for the first time since he took office nearly two years ago.

As the Epoch Times‘ Jack Phillips notes;

President Joe Biden indicated Wednesday that he will visit the U.S.–Mexico border for the first time since he took office nearly two years ago.

While in Kentucky, the president was asked if he will be going to the border in connection to a meeting next week in Mexico City with other world leaders. “That’s my intention, we’re working out the details now,” Biden said.

Biden is slated to attend the North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10, where he is expected to meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Republicans and some Democrats who represent districts along the U.S.–Mexico border have repeatedly called on Biden to visit the border amid surging numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the border. They’ve also accused the administration of pursuing an “open borders” agenda by rescinding numerous Trump-era immigration rules.

In December, Biden was chided as he flew to Arizona to deliver a speech at a computer chip factory and highlighted jobs but did not visit the border. At the time, the president said that he could not visit “because there are more important things going on … they are going to invest billions of dollars in a new enterprise in the state.”

Other Details

Data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show that nearly 2.4 million people were arrested for illegally crossing the border in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. That’s up from 1.7 million during the previous fiscal year.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed Title 42, a border rule established under the Trump administration that allowed the federal government to quickly expel people at the border, after the Supreme Court last week ruled that the policy should remain while it considers arguments. A lower court had ruled to end the policy, which would have ended in December.

“To truly fix our broken immigration system though, we need Congress to act,” Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday. “We saw the president on his first day in office put forth a comprehensive immigration policy, and he did that to show how important this was, how much of a priority this was for him.”

And when she was asked about a possible Biden visit to the border, Jean-Pierre said in late December that “the president’s focus right now is to come up with solutions” and “his focus on making sure that we have the resources to manage the challenges that we’re seeing at the border.”

After the midterms, top House Republicans have indicated that investigating the administration’s border policies will be a priority. Last month, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R.-Calif.) told reporters that he had invited Biden to visit the border with him when Biden met with McCarthy and other GOP leaders following the Nov. 8 midterms.

“The control of our border is lost right now. That is why I asked [the] homeland security secretary to resign. And come January, we’ll have an investigation of why the border has become the situation it is and not allow them to continue along the same path,” said McCarthy, who is currently vying to become the next House speaker amid opposition among members of his own party.

Some GOP lawmakers have said that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees the CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, could face impeachment.

Mayorkas on Wednesday again acknowledged that the number of illegal immigrant encounters at the border is causing strain on the system.

“We’re operating within a system that is fundamentally broken. No one disagrees with that. We just can’t seem to agree upon the solution and a solution is long overdue. Within the broken immigration system that we are operating, we are managing the number of encounters and we are prepared to address the end of Title 42,” he told the Washington Post.

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), whose district sits along the border, said in late December that Biden should visit to see what he described as an escalating crisis.

“I don’t know why they keep avoiding the border and saying there’s other things, more important things, than visiting the border. If there is a crisis, show up. Just show up,” he told CNN in December, coming days before the Supreme Court allowed Title 42 to remain for the time being.

Biden “showing up at the border would send a strong signal to the communities that he’s there, he cares about the border communities,” Cuellar said. “Just show up! It doesn’t take much to just show up at the border.”

After two days of embarrassing defeat spanning six votes for Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy has offered his critics a mountain of new concessions before, during and after a round of Wednesday night negotiations, Politico reports.

The concessions include (via Politico): 

• A one-member “motion to vacate”: The GOP leader appears to have finally acquiesced to a demand to lower the threshold needed to force a vote ousting a speaker to just one member. While McCarthy originally indicated that restoring the one-member “motion to vacate” was a red line, his allies now argue that there’s not a huge practical difference between this and his previous offer of requiring five members to trigger the vote.

• Rules Committee seats for the Freedom Caucus: McCarthy is prepared to give the House Freedom Caucus two seats on the powerful House Rules Committee, which oversees the amendment process for the floor. (Some conservatives are still holding out for four seats on the panel.) There are also talks about giving a third seat to a conservative close to the Freedom Caucus but not in it — someone like Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Who would pick those members is still under discussion. Typically, it’s the speaker’s prerogative, but conservatives want to choose their own members for these jobs.
• A vote on term limits: This is a key demand of Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who has proposed a constitutional amendment limiting lawmakers to three terms in the House.

• Major changes to the appropriations process: Fears of another trillion-plus-dollar omnibus spending bill have been a major driver of the conservative backlash to McCarthy. The brewing deal includes a promise for standalone votes on each of the 12 annual appropriations bills, which would be considered under what is known as an “open rule,” allowing floor amendments to be offered by any lawmaker.

That said, according to Punchbowl News‘ Jake Sherman (formerly of Politico), there are still 20 ‘no’ votes against McCarthy, who “may have to sit through a 7th speaker vote today that he’s sure to lose.”

According to Sherman, “negotiations between McCarthy and opponents have turned slightly positive,” while the Speaker hopeful is trying to drive a wedge between Reps. Lauren Bobert and Matt Gaetz. That said, some of McCarthy’s allies have suggested the drama could extend into next week before McCarthy either gets the job or backs down.

More from Sherman / Punchbowl regarding McCarthy’s progress:

TO BE SURE: MCCARTHY is a long way away. but he finally had a sliver of good news yesterday

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 5, 2023

Years of anger, distrust

As Bloomberg notes, the 20 GOP holdouts that are blocking McCarthy’s bid to become Speaker comes from years of anger at party leadership and “deep suspicions of the veteran lawmaker.”

The group opposing McCarthy’s ascension to the top spot in the chamber have a list of grievances about House rules, anger over uniparty compromises with Democrats, and doubt over McCarthy’s claim to be a true conservative.

“Mr. McCarthy has a history that is off-putting to some people,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), one of the leaders of the revolt.

According to Rep. Scott Perry, chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, “It’s not personal for us,” adding “It’s about the policies that come out of here.”

“I’m not for the restrictive nature of this place where eight people run it and the rest of us just vote yes or no,” Perry added, expressing frustration with a series of omnibus spending packages that Republicans have joined Democrats in jamming through the process, year after year.

Meanwhile, McCarthy foe Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) says there are ‘trust’ issues over McCarthy’s past votes on spending packages.

“Could Kevin McCarthy all of a sudden morph into a fiscal conservative?” he asked.

Matt Gaetz of Florida, one of McCarthy’s most vocal detractors, has made his opposition more personal, lambasting him as a creature of the Washington “swamp” who does the bidding of corporate lobbies.

“If you want to Drain the Swamp, you CANNOT put the biggest alligator in charge of the exercise!” he said in a fundraising email sent amid the speaker votes. “We’re talking about someone who the corrupt DC special interests can always count on to be their lapdog.”

McCarthy has made efforts to neutralize right-wing critics. He pulled himself close to former President Donald Trump after first criticizing him for his actions when a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. -Bloomberg

Stay tuned for today’s episode of ‘nobody likes Kevin.’

In a day when strong jobs data (Challenger, ADP, Initial Claims all coming in strong or stronger than expected) has been viewed by markets as bad for risk assets as it signals continued economic strength and continued rate hikes by the Fed, we got yet another conflicting economic signal, this time from the latest US trade deficit, which narrowed in November by much more than expected. According to the BEA, the November trade deficit narrowed to $61.5b from $77.8b in prior month, coming in below the median estimate of $63.0BN (and just barely missing the top end of the range of $61.3BN to $80.5BN from 42 economists).

Remarkably, the 20% one-month decline in the deficit was the single biggest drop in the US trade deficit on a percentage basis going back to the global financial crisis!

And while it would have been welcome economic news if the drop in the deficit was the result of a surge in exports, the plunge was driven not by rising exports but rather by shrinking imports – a telltale sign of economic slowdown – with consumer goods, industrial supplies, capital goods and autos all contributing to the decline, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis said. To wit, while exports fell 2% in Nov. to $251.9BN from $257.0BN in Oct, imports fell a striking 6.4% in Nov. to $313.4BN from $334.8BN in Oct. Here are the detials:

Exports of goods and services decreased $5.1 billion, or 2.0 percent, in November to $251.9 billion. Exports of goods decreased $5.3 billion and exports of services increased $0.2 billion.

• The decrease in exports of goods reflected decreases in industrial supplies and materials ($3.6billion) and in capital goods ($1.3 billion). An increase in consumer goods ($0.9 billion) partly offset the decreases.
• The increase in exports of services reflected increases in other business services ($0.1 billion), in telecommunications, computer, and information services ($0.1 billion), and in charges for the use of intellectual property ($0.1 billion). A decrease in travel ($0.2 billion) partly offset the increases.

Imports of goods and services decreased $21.5 billion, or 6.4 percent, in November to $313.4 billion. Imports of goods decreased $20.7 billion and imports of services decreased $0.8 billion.

• The decrease in imports of goods reflected decreases in consumer goods ($8.8 billion), in industrial supplies and materials ($3.7 billion), in automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($3.3 billion), and in capital goods ($3.0 billion).
• The decrease in imports of services reflected decreases in transport ($0.7 billion) and in travel ($0.4billion). An increase in charges for the use of intellectual property ($0.2 billion) partly offset the decreases.

Whether the plunge in imports is due to a the reverse bullwhip effect, or general economic malaise is unclear; adding to the confusion, the slowdown in US consumer demand for foreign goods and services will serve to boost GDP due to the way net trade is imputed for GDP purposes. In other words, expect a jump in Q4 GDP estimates due to a plunge in US imports.

A double whammy of better than expected jobs data this morning (just ignore the massive layoffs at Amazon etc) has sparked a hawkish reaction in the market’s expectations of Fed actions with the terminal rate now back above 5% – at pre-December-CPI levels…

The dollar is rallying on the hawkish shift…

But… Stocks are dumping…

Bonds are dumping…

Gold is dumping…

And while the jobs market is screaming ‘no recession’ the oil market is is rumbling on demand fears…

Powell will be happy as financial conditions are tightening…

Authored by Bill Blain via MorningPorridge.com,

“Sometimes the stock market is quite investment-oriented, and other times it’s almost totally a casino, a gambling parlor — and that existed to an extraordinary degree in the last couple of years, encouraged by Wall Street.”

What is the Fed really thinking? They will probably er on the side of lower rates to avoid recession, running the risk of entrenched wage growth. Soft landings are the stuff of myth! How it effects the global economy is critical.

Everyone was focused on Tesla’s 12% stock price plunge  on the back of falling orders, but did you notice Apple’s market cap fell below $2 trillion – exactly one year after it briefly touched $3 trillion? Ouch. Of course, the travails of a few of yesterday’s stock market darlings is just the normal cut and thrust of markets… In a few years time… where will they be then?

Stocks come and go. Nations and the Bond Market remain…

What is the US Federal Reserve really thinking? We got more clues yesterday. Does the US Central Bank aggressively hike interest rates to crush inflation and risk recession? Or, do they slow the pace of interest rate rises to lessen recession but risking the overheated US jobs market pushing up wage inflation? Soft landings are very, very rare! As I’ve said before: a good landing is one you walk away from. An excellent landing is when you can still fly the plane the next day…

In reality, it’s a choice between the Devil or the deep blue sea. The temptation facing Jay Powell and his colleagues will be to do less with interest rates – in the hope that wage inflation pressures will naturally moderate, and slower rate rises will avoid triggering recession. But, as we all know, hope is never a good strategy!

Whatever the Fed does has profound implications for the rest of the global economy – especially emerging markets. Even the US is susceptible to the vagaries of the global economy – the immediate risk being just how severe a China Covid shock may still be?

Already a significant number of struggling emerging economies are functionally bust – crushed by high debt, food and energy prices, covid slowdowns, commodities, and the mighty dollar as much as endemic corruption and inefficiencies. The higher the dollar goes, the more difficult the situation becomes.

Many economists now predict a period of dollar weakness as rates rise around the globe, and US inflation falls. The charts show the dollar has moderated since Nov – hence emerging markets should benefit and why so many year-end strategic reviews have EM down as an investment theme for 2023.

If only it were so simple.

The bottom line for most heavily indebted nations is a desperate need to attract investment and avoid damaging debt – meaning don’t borrow in dollars! The Virtuous Sovereign Trinity theory holds good for all nations: if they have political competency (controlling corruption and ensuring sound governance), have sustainable access to debt/bond markets, and a sound currency, then the outlook is good. Break out of these norms and you become Sri-Lanka, or worse.

The big concern for the future is just how wobbly an emerging market crisis resulting from unaddressed inflation/recession could be? I read a poll recently – although I read it with some scepticism – that the number one concern of UK voters is illegal immigration. At present swarms of Albanian economic migrants are apparently leaching off the UK state regarding the inflatable dinghy across the Channel as an expensive bus-fare, justifying sending any and all refugees to Rwanda. As policies go, it’s proving about as effective as any other promise the government makes…. If nothing else, it gives us a pantomime villain to rail against.

The issue becomes truly serious if/when an inflation/food/energy/climate crisis across North Africa and wider triggers something bigger in terms of a genuine refugee crisis into Europe. That would be yet another test for European unity with substantial costs and human misery all round – making the current sustainability of European debt troubling in the extreme.

Speaking of third world nations, the situation in the UK is fascinating – the deeply unpopular government means striking public sector workers are attracting considerable sympathy for what is rapidly becoming a national shutdown in pursuit of inflation busting pay-demands. It feels like the whole country is broken. The hospitals are bursting, offices are empty, everyone has hacking coughs and its misery on misery squared out there. Cheer up… the sales are underway, but no one has any money left to spend.

As a I commented yesterday, the UK feels a single slip away from a complete financial market meltdown.

Wage inflation looks nailed on. While no one will ever criticise the nurses, support for public sector workers is not unlimited. Most UK government workers will retire on gold-plated final salary pensions, rising at the rate of inflation. I managed a modest uplift in my self-managed pension pot last year – but inflation means I’m actually down 3%!

Railway men are not badly paid – but I can’t get to work this week due to the Rail Strikes. The rail unions argue it’s all about safety – the employers want to create a leaner more cost efficient structure. The fact the whole rail system of Notwork Rail (the track operator) and multiple train operating companies is an illustration of the very worst way to set up a railway is a good argument for renationalising the whole thing and starting from scratch!

I am hoping some direction for the UK economy will shortly emerge – at the moment it feels like we are floating on an ocean of failure… We need change..

Finally, I am tempted to comment on the failure of the US Republican’s to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. The fact the opposition in the USA now looks vaguely less competent than Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour should be a matter of deep concern. The problem in the UK is as much about the failure of a decent opposition these past 12 years of Conservative Government (it would have kept them focused and honest), as it is about the crass opportunism of the Cameron/May/Boris/Truss/Sunak etc etc years.

Following this morning’s better than expected ADP print (and a 129% YoY rise n job cuts reported by Challenger Grey), all eyes are on the claims data for any hints of what is to come in tomorrow’s payrolls data. The number of Americans filing for first time unemployment claims rose by 205k last week (less than the 225k expected). That pushes the smoothed 4-wk average to its lowest (best labor market) since October. Continuing jobless claims dipped very modestly back below 1.7mm (1.694mm)…

Source: Bloomberg

Kentucky, Texas, and Illinois saw the largest drop in initial claims while New Jersey, New York, an Michigan saw the largest rise last week…

On an unadjusted basis, initial jobless claims rose last week…

Source: Bloomberg

As financial conditions have tightened, US labor market indicators have printed significantly better than expected…

Source: Bloomberg

None of this is good news for The Fed… or those hoping for a ‘pivot’ or ‘pause’ anytime soon.

Prominent asset managers are playing a giant game of whack-a-mole as a wave of redemptions hit multi-billion dollar property funds on either side of the Atlantic. Wealthy investors panic as high inflation and recession threats send fund valuations sliding. 

US fund manager BlackRock is the latest to suspend redemption requests from investors in its £3.5 billion ($4.2 billion) UK property fund. 

The world’s largest asset manager told clients with money in the BlackRock UK Property Fund that it would defer redemption requests made at the end of September 2022 and due this month, according to Bloomberg, citing one person familiar with the matter. 

The open-ended UK real estate fund has been hit with a surge in demand for redemptions. The fund is only open to professional investors and is based out of New Jersey. There’s been mounting concern that soaring interest rates and economic uncertainty will continue pressuring valuations lower. 

The net asset value of the fund has roundtripped Covid lows. 

Last September’s mini-budget triggered chaos in the gilts market, forcing pension funds to sell assets. This led to three of the UK’s largest property fund managers admitting they could not handle heavy demand from investors seeking to withdraw money. One of those funds that imposed restrictions on withdrawals was the BlackRock UK Property Fund. 

UK property funds also suspended redemptions during the Covid market turmoil in 2020 and Britain’s referendum to leave the European Union in 2016. 

Besides BlackRock, Blackstone capped redemptions for its $68 billion Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) after high-net-worth investors panicked about the prospect of the fund losing value late last year. 

In simple terms, someone yelled ‘fire in a crowded theater’ as investors dashed to the exit… Thank the Fed. 

Blackstone was smart and gave the University of California’s endowment a sweetheart deal to pour in $4 billion into BREIT — an attempt to restore confidence, or as we noted, a ‘Buffett-style’ bailout.

Perhaps BlackRock should contact UC Investments to see if they want exposure to UK property markets. 

Authored by Alexander Zhang via The Epoch Times,

The UK government has stressed that it is “not compulsory” to wear a mask while ill, though it has been “longstanding advice” from health authorities.

It comes after Professor Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), issued advice on Jan. 2 saying adults should “wear a face covering” if they have to leave the house while feeling unwell.

The UKHSA handed out the advice this week in a bid to counter high levels of flu, COVID-19, and invasive Strep A disease.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper also said it would be “sensible” to do so if travelling.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper arrives for a government COBRA emergency committee meeting at the Cabinet Office in London, on Dec. 14, 2022. (Victoria Jones/PA Media)

Asked for the government’s opinion on the UKHSA’s guidance, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said on Jan. 3: “Obviously that’s advice they put out. I think that is pretty longstanding advice.

“It remains health advice to the public—it is not mandatory. People need their judgment. Certainly people will continue to use their good sense, having spent a long time dealing … with these kinds of infectious illnesses.”

Questioned whether it was really “longstanding” advice for people to wear face coverings if they are battling a cold, the spokesman replied: “That’s not what the advice says. What you’ll see is, as has often been the case, if people are ill, they are advised to stay at home.

“Obviously people can choose to wear a mask if they wish to. It is not compulsory. This is advice from UKHSA rather than government ministers telling people what to do, as we saw during the height of the pandemic before the emergence of vaccines.”

Asked if the prime minister would consider wearing a mask while feeling unwell, the spokesman said he had not put the question to Sunak.

“I imagine it is down to individual circumstances,” the spokesman told reporters.

‘Sensible Thing to Do’

Asked if he would wear a mask if he was ill with COVID-19, Harper, the transport secretary, told LBC radio: “First of all, you should stay at home if you think you have got COVID or you have got flu. Actually the most sensible thing to do is to not go out and spread it. If you do go out, clearly wearing a mask is very sensible if you are ill.

“But we manage these illnesses now by vaccination. People should get vaccinated for COVID, they should also get a flu vaccination. We have seen very high levels of flu this winter.”

The UK has followed a long list of other countries in taking precautionary measures in response to an increase in COVID-19 cases in China on the heels of the communist regime’s abrupt lifting of stringent zero-COVID restrictions last month.

In the first 20 days of December, 248 million people in China likely became infected, according to an internal meeting memo of China’s top health body that was leaked online. The number dwarfs the COVID-19 data and death tally officially released so far, which international experts have said is disproportionate to the actual scale of the outbreak.

The United States, Italy, Spain, France, Australia, and Canada have adopted entry curbs on arrivals from China, following in the footsteps of China’s neighbouring nations and regions such as India, Malaysia, Japan, and Taiwan.

Travellers walk with their luggage at Beijing Capital International Airport, amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing, China, on Dec. 27, 2022. (Tingshu Wang/Reuters)

Monitoring New Variants

Under new measures announced by UK Health Secretary Steve Barclay on Dec. 30, from Jan. 5, people flying from mainland China to England will be asked to take a test no more than two days prior to departure.

In addition, the UKHSA will launch new surveillance measures on Jan. 8, which will see a sample of passengers arriving from China tested for COVID-19 at the point of their arrival.

But Harper said that those who test positive on arrival will not be required to quarantine.

“What we are doing is we are collecting that information for surveillance purposes,” he said, adding, “The policy for arrivals from China is primarily about collecting information that the Chinese government are not sharing with the international community.”

Harper said:

“This is about a country, China, which isn’t sharing the health data with the global health system that we expect everybody to do. That is why we have put this temporary precautionary measure in place as China opens up its borders.”

He said it is a “very sensible, balanced proposition” which helps keep people in the UK safe but doesn’t put any restrictions on how people in the UK are able to operate.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said passengers “will not be allowed to board a flight” to the UK from China if they do not have evidence of a negative test result.

But, in a separate statement, a DHSC spokeswoman confirmed that tests upon arrival in England were “optional.”

She said: “We encourage people at the border to take a test to help themselves, their families, and wider knowledge on COVID. However, the testing is optional and people can decline if they wish to do so.”

Downing Street said the government would set out the full details regarding new rules for travellers entering the UK from mainland China or Hong Kong “in due course.”

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

About 4,000 members of the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division are still deployed in Romania as part of a military buildup in Eastern Europe that President Biden ordered last year, as the Pentagon is still deciding whether to maintain current troop levels.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that some 101st soldiers are stationed at a base near the Romanian city of Constanta on the Black Sea while others are further north, just a few miles from the Ukrainian border, and are simulating fighting Russia in Ukraine.

In exercises with Romanian troops, the Times report said the 101st soldiers are firing artillery, launching helicopter assaults, and digging trenches similar to those on the front lines in Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast.

The deployment marks the first time the 101st has been sent to Europe since World War II.

CBS News reported in October that the 101st was conducting drills within just four miles of the Ukrainian border and that the unit was prepared to “fight tonight.” Commanders told CBS that they were in Romania to protect NATO territory but said they were ready to enter Ukraine if the war escalated.

The Times report stressed that the 101st Airborne deployment was about deterrence. If the US were preparing to enter the war directly, it would likely send significantly more troops. While in Romania, the soldiers are also participating in coastal defense drills, and Romanian troops are practicing firing HIMARS rocket launch systems into the Black Sea.

The military buildup in Eastern Europe has brought US troop levels on the continent to over 100,000 for the first time since 2005. The Pentagon is expected to decide soon if it will maintain the current levels for the long term or reduce or increase them.

The over $100 billion that has been authorized to spend on the war in Ukraine includes money to fund troop deployments in Europe. The latest Ukraine aid bill that was passed by Congress includes $6.98 billion for US European Command, which will likely fund the training of Ukrainian troops, other types of support for Kyiv, and US deployments in the region.